Tag: brunch

Many new brunch spots have popped up in KL recently, but not many of them offer anything special.

Birch is one of the newcomers in the scene. Located in the brand new Damansara City Mall, the restaurant adopts the combination of industrial design sensibilities with the dine-in-the-garden concept. The result is a spectacular space with ample natural light, verdant indoor greenery and welcoming, non-uptight vibes.

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There’s plenty of caffeine options to choose from, so I had the iced soy matcha latte (RM17).

Birch’s weekend menu offers a selection of three salads, and I tried out the Birch Garden Salad (RM24). The fresh lettuce, rocket, cucumber and cherry tomatoes are fresh, and mix well with the delicious roasted pumpkin bits. The honey mustard dressing is mild and not too overwhelming. A crunchy seaweed layer provides added texture and umami to the hearty dish.

The salad

An eggless brunch isn’t a legit brunch.

Birch’s Eggs Benedict (RM26) is very delicious. Spicy pulled chicken, basted in flavourful spiced barbecue sauce, is served on top of a freshly toasted sourdough. The highlight of the dish is the perfectly done Hollandaise covering the poached eggs. It’s so yummy. Creamy, but not sickly.

It’s hard to find the perfect Hollandaise in KL. The quality ranges from atrocious (vinegary and sour) at Quartet to alright at Antipodean. I’m glad Birch does it really well.

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We ended our satisfying brunch with some desserts. There are many cupcakes to choose from, from the standard red velvet to their Gula Melaka creation. I tried their macadamia cheese cake (RM19) and the dark chocolate cupcake (RM10).

The cheesecake is superb, with candied crunchy macadamia bits on top. It’s not too sweet. The chocolate cupcake tastes alright, nothing special. The dark chocolate filling is rich and satisfying, but the cake itself is too floury to my liking.

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Verdict

After my second visit, I’ve concluded that Birch is now one of my favourite brunch spots in KL. It’s quite affordable, compared to the likes of BLVD. The food here is great, and the service is pretty quick too. Parking is super easy at DC Mall (ample space, and RM1 per entry during weekends).

However, due to the popularity of the place, expect long queues during weekend brunch/lunch period.

Merchant’s Lane has been a popular haunt for local hipsters since it first opened a couple of years ago. I went there for the first time in 2015, and I wasn’t impressed by the limited brunch selection and the lacklustre quality (I still remember how dry the salmon that I ordered tasted).

Yesterday I decided to give the place another go for brunch. The place still looks as charming as the first time I saw it, and the menu has improved significantly. There are now more items to choose from, ranging from the classic big breakfast to the rendang fusion pasta.

The restaurant’s interior is tastefully designed to preserve the charming features of the traditional Chinese shophouse that it occupies. The main dining hall is spacious, with a vaulted ceiling and a thin sunroof pane that allows ample natural light to come in. Antique decorations, bottles and old cans decorate the clean, empty walls, and little flowers provide some colours to the space. Outside the air-conditioned dining hall is the inner courtyard, which is sheltered from the scorching heat by a large shady tree.

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The food has improved substantially since I last went there. I ordered a beef burger set (RM24), which is served with satay (peanut) sauce dressing. The patty is fairly tender, and the charcoal bun is nicely toasted. My friend ordered a rice dish that comes with a large fried chicken (RM22) – and it’s pretty delicious too. We washed down our meals with a refreshing cold-pressed juice each (RM15).

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Verdict:

While the brunch selection has improved tremendously since I last went, it still falls short compared to the likes of Tray, Birch and Yeast. Merchant’s Lane biggest draw is still the superb interior aesthetics and the charming, Straits Chinese ambiance. It’s a perfect place for photo taking with some highly Instagrammable walls – including a rattan swing, which is a hit amongst the shutterbugs (yours truly included). Merchant’s Lane location in Chinatown further adds to its intrigue; it’s nice to spend some time at the historic quarter of town, away from the predictable scenes in Bangsar and Bukit Bintang.